Royal wedding drama: Meghan Markle's not alone when it comes to prenuptial stress, chaos

Tabloids have made a fortune off of the royal wedding, but their rumors are being put to rest. Keri Lumm has the scoop.
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The Royal Mail released a new stamp of Prince Harry and his fiancee Meghan Markle, part of a set of four stamps showing the couple in their engagement photos.(Photo: Alexi Lubomirski via AFP/Getty Images)

American princess-in-waiting Meghan Markle is having a bad week in the run-up to her Saturday wedding to Prince Harry thanks to her obstreperous family. It won't be of much comfort but she is not alone in this, as zillions of ordinary brides can attest.

Alas, drama is routine at weddings. But few people have to see it play out before the world via a ravenous media mob gobbling up every detail about the royal wedding at Windsor Castle this weekend of Prince Harry, 33, and his American actress fiancée, 36.

It's possible Meghan's mother, Doria Ragland, split from Thomas Markle since Meghan was 2, will walk their daughter down the aisle. It wouldn't be unprecedented: Queen Victoria walked two of her daughters down the aisle because her husband, Prince Albert, had died before all but one of their children married.

The final word on what's going to happen is still up in the air and Kensington Palace isn't commenting.

So....yes, lots of drama. So what else is new?

Esther Lee, senior editor at The Knot wedding-planning website, says weddings are "a high-stakes stressful time" for most couples, whether it's worrying about feuding relatives, a soggy sponge cake or the band that failed to show.

"There will be drama," she says. "This is what happens when you're planning a wedding. Family dynamics are in play no matter what the situation is, or there are friends you have to keep apart because things are messy."

But she thinks Meghan Markle is a "thoughtful and incredibly graceful person" who will be able to handle her family's drama in a "gracious" way.

"Whatever happens, everything will be fine, everything will be OK, everything will be smoothed out before the wedding," Lee says. "She just needs to focus on (the fact) that weddings are about love and two people coming together."

And forget everything else. But one thing she should remember: There is precedent for disarray in the run-up to recent royal weddings, even among American "royals":

Prince Charles and Camilla Duchess of Cornwall after their wedding on April 9, 2005.(Photo: ADRIAN DENNIS, AFP/Getty Images)

The wedding of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles at Windsor in 2005:

This wedding was always going to be controversial given that Charles was marrying his longtime mistress, the woman his first wife, the late Princess Diana, blamed for breaking up their marriage. But if you perused the British tabloids in the weeks before, you would have concluded the planning was one farcical nightmare after another.

Charles "has had a rough ride over the last two months. Everything that could have gone wrong seems to have gone wrong," said Richard Kay, Diana partisan and royal correspondent for The Daily Mail at the time (and still a columnist for the London tabloid).

The civil ceremony was supposed to be at Windsor Castle, then it had to be moved to the Windsor town hall for legal reasons. Questions were raised, and had to be answered in Parliament, about whether it was legal for royals to be married in a civil ceremony. His parents, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, did not attend the civil ceremony, and the palace had to deny it was a "snub." At the Anglican "blessing service" in St. George's Chapel that followed, the pair had to publicly declare their regret for their past sins — unspecified but everyone knew what they were.

And at the last minute, the April 8 date of the nuptials had to be postponed for a day because Pope John Paul II died and Charles had to go to Rome to represent the queen at the funeral. Consequently, all the wedding souvenirs for sale in shops — the tea towels, tea cups and other knickknacks — had the wrong date.

In the end, the actual day went off without a hitch and it was lovely, achieving a measure of moving grace and dignity under unprecedented circumstances.

Prince Charles and Princess Diana in their carriage on their wedding day in London, July 29, 1981.(Photo: PA, AP)

The wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer in July 1981:

Although few knew it at the time, this was a catastrophically mismatched couple who barely knew each other after scarcely more than a dozen dates and whose many differences (she was 20, he was 32) were too gaping to bridge.

It all came to tears years later, as everyone knows, but in the run-up to the wedding, both of them grappled with second thoughts. She was under tremendous pressure from the media at the time and from her own insecurities as it began to dawn on her that Charles was still in love with Camilla Parker Bowles.

Diana confided to her Spencer sisters, Lady Sarah and Lady Jane, that she wanted to call off the wedding, according to Diana biographer Andrew Morton. “I had lunch with my sisters who were there and said: ‘I can’t marry him, I can’t do this, this is absolutely unbelievable.’ They were wonderful and said: ‘Well, bad luck, Duch, your face is on the tea towels so you’re too late to chicken out.’ So we made light of it.”

Then-U.S. Senator John F. Kennedy and his bride, the former Jacqueline Lee Bouvier, cut their wedding cake following their marriage Sept. 12, 1953 in Newport, R.I.(Photo: Associated Press)

The wedding of Jacqueline Bouvier to Sen. John F. Kennedy in 1953:

According to accounts at the time, she wanted a small wedding. Instead, there were 700 people at the church in Newport, R.I., and 1,200 at the reception. She didn't get to pick her engagement ring (her future father-in-law did that) and she didn't like her dress (made her look like a lampshade, she said later).

Most of all, she wanted her father, dashing and philandering John "Black Jack" Bouvier, to walk her down the aisle. But her imperious mother, Janet Auchincloss, banned her ex-husband from the pre-wedding parties and reception, then arranged to get Bouvier drunk (he had an alcohol problem) before the wedding so he couldn't attend. Instead, Jackie walked down the aisle with her stepfather, Hugh Auchincloss.

The wedding of Princess Elizabeth to Prince Philip in 1947:

This wedding almost didn't happen: The family of the princess (later the queen) was not too keen on this penniless exiled Greek prince, who was gorgeous but considered too "fast" for shy Lilibet, as she was known in her family. But she insisted and she got her way.

But his older sisters were left off the guest list: They had all married German princes who became Nazis and this was only two years after the end of WWII.

Also left off the Windsors' guest list: The princess' favorite Uncle David, aka Edward VIII, who quit his throne and country in 1936 to marry "the woman I love," American two-time divorcée Wallis Simpson. After a brief flirtation with the Nazis, the couple ended up exiled and embittered, shunned by his family and his countrymen.

As the Duke of Windsor, he returned to the family fold only in death, in 1972, when he was buried at the royal burial ground near Windsor Castle. The Duchess of Windsor joined him there when she died in 1986.

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And baby makes three: Eleven months after they announced their engagement, Prince Harry and wife Duchess Meghan are expecting their first child. Kensington Palace announced the news Monday, Oct. 15, a few hours after the couple landed in Sydney to begin their 16-day tour of Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Tonga. AP

Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan made an official visit to Sussex on Oct. 3, 2018 in Chichester, United Kingdom. The Duke and Duchess married on May 19th 2018 in Windsor and were styled the Duke & Duchess of Sussex by Queen Elizabeth II on the morning of their May 19 wedding. Chris Jackson, Getty Images

During their visit, they visited the Royal Pavilion in Brighton, England. It was originally built in the late 1780s as a seaside retreat for King George IV before he took the throne and later turned into a museum. Tim Ireland, AP

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle commemorated Anzac Day on April 25, 2018. The day highlights the first major military action Australian and New Zealand forces made during WWI. ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP/Getty Images

Days after becoming a father for the third time, Prince William joined his brother and soon-to-be sister-in-law for services at Westminster Abbey. William greeted her with kisses on both cheeks. Frank Augstein/AP

Meghan Markle wore a v-neck dress by Hugo Boss while attending a memorial service with her fiancé Prince Harry in London on April 23. The memorial commemorated the 25th anniversary of the murder of Stephen Lawrence, a black British teen who was killed in a racially motivated attack. STR, EPA-EFE

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry attended a women's empowerment reception at the Royal Aeronautical Society during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, in London, April 19, 2018. Chris Jackson, AP

Although black is usually reserved for royal funerals it's not entirely unprecedented for royals-in-waiting to don the color, and Markle looked nothing short of sleek in a dress with an asymmetrical neckline by Black Halo. CHRIS JACKSON, AFP/Getty Images

The royal couple-to-be showed off their obvious chemistry when they attended a women's empowerment reception during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, in London, April 19, 2018. Chris Jackson, AP

All wedding planning and no fun could make for dull royals, but thankfully Prince Harry and Meghan Markle can turn to the Invictus Games. On April 6, the couple stepped out in Bath, England to attend the UK Team Trials for the competition to be held in Sydney in October. The international sport event gives wounded, injured and sick servicemen and women -- both veteran and active -- the opportunity to compete. Chris Jackson/Getty Images

An important step in Meghan Markle's royal education: Her first joint official appearance with Queen Elizabeth II and the royal family. Prince Harry and his American fiancee attended the Commonwealth Day Service at Westminster Abbey on March 12, 2018. DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS, AFP/Getty Images

Meghan Markle wore a creamy white coat by Amanda Wakeley and a matching beret-style hat over a dark dress for the Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey on March 12, 2018. Samir Hussein/WireImage

After the service, the young royals, including Meghan Markle, met with school children in the abbey dean's yard. Meghan crouched to receive a posy of flowers from a young girl. DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS, AFP/Getty Images

Meghan Markle made her first joint appearance with Harry, Prince William and Duchess Kate at the first Royal Foundation Forum on Feb.28, 2018 in London. Markle's name will be added to the foundation's title when she weds and launches her new life as royal philanthropist. CHRIS JACKSON, AFP/Getty Images

The fourth stop on the "Meet Meghan Markle" tour of the United Kingdom found Prince Harry and his bride-to-be in picturesque Edinburgh in Scotland, where their first event of the day was a walkabout outside Edinburgh Castle, on Feb. 13, 2018. ROBERT PERRY, EPA-EFE

Holding hands, the couple were greeted by large and enthusiastic crowds in Edinburgh. Markle's fashion gesture on her first official visit to Scotland included wearing a Burberry tartan coat and carrying a crossbody bag by Scottish brand Strathberry, Feb. 13, 2018. WPA Pool, Getty Images

As Prince Harry introduces Meghan Markle to the United Kingdom, with their latest stop in Edinburgh, Scotland, the couple have continued to disregard stuffy royal custom with plenty of public displays of affection and touching. ROBERT PERRY, EPA-EFE

Prince Harry and his fiancée Meghan Markle are introduced to Cruachan IV, the Shetland pony Regimental mascot for the Black Watch; the obstreperous pony tried to nip at the royal fingers as Harry and Meghan laughed. ROBERT PERRY, EPA-EFE

In another impressive royal backdrop, Harry and Meghan went to the Palace of Holyroodhouse, the seat of Scottish royalty, including Harry's distant Scottish ancestors, Mary Queen of Scots, and her son, King James 1 of England. The couple walked the corridors of the palace on their way to a reception for young people. Scotland's Year of Young People 2018 aims to inspire Scotland through celebrating youth achievements and strengthening their voice on social issues. ANDREW MILLIGAN, AFP/Getty Images

Prince Harry and his fiancée Meghan Markle at a reception for young people in the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh, during their visit to Scotland on Feb. 13, 2018. Her all-black outfit under included sailor-style Veronica Beard palazzo pants and high heels. ANDREW MILLIGAN, AFP/Getty Images

Prince Harry and his fiancée Meghan Markle visited Wales on Jan. 18, 2018, in the latest stop on the "Meet Meghan" tour of Britain before their May 19 wedding. Chris Jackson, Chris Jackson/Getty Images

For her visit to Cardiff Castle in Wales, royal bride-to-be Meghan Markle wore a black Stella McCartney coat cinched with a wide ribbon-style belt, plus black boots. She carried a mini-saddlebag purse by the British brand Demellier. Karwai Tang/WireImage

With iconic Cardiff Castle as a backdrop, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle plunged into a walkabout, shaking hands with children, many waving Welsh flags and even some American flags, during thier visit to Cardiff, Wales, on Jan. 18, 2018. Chris Jackson, Chris Jackson/Getty Images

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle visit Reprezent 107.3FM on Jan. 9, 2018 in London. The Reprezent training program "was established in 2008 in response to an alarming rise in knife crime, to help young people develop and socialize through radio," Kensington Palace tweeted the day of the event. Samir Hussein/WireImage